Is The Monarch: First Light free?

Yes — The Monarch: First Light is free to play, so you can install and play it without buying anything.

Is The Monarch: First Light Steam Deck compatible?

Mostly. Valve rates The Monarch: First Light Playable on Steam Deck: it runs, but may need some manual tweaking — a community controller layout, or zooming in on small text.

Can I play The Monarch: First Light on Mac?

Not natively — Steam lists no macOS version of The Monarch: First Light. Mac players would need a cloud gaming service or a Windows compatibility layer.

Is The Monarch: First Light multiplayer?

No — Steam lists The Monarch: First Light as single-player only.

Is The Monarch: First Light on PC Game Pass?

No — The Monarch: First Light is not on PC Game Pass right now.

The Monarch: First Light

Name: The Monarch: First Light
Brand: Citadel Games
Availability: InStock

Citadel Games · April 3, 2024 · Tower Defense, Survival, Base Building, Exploration, Roguelite

The Monarch: First Light is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

Survival deals Tower Defense deals

Mixed65% · 112 📈 Making a comeback 77%

Best price

Free

Get it free on Steam

This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

Screenshots

The Monarch: First Light price

The Monarch: First Light is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About The Monarch: First Light

The Monarch is a Kingdom-like strategy game that has minimalistic control & smooth gameplay with power-up aspects. The gates of hell open each night, terrorizing the land. As the player, you must find a way to destroy the gates and defend your lands in the process!

Gather coins, recruit peasants, train units, build powerful structures, gain power-ups, and adapt!

Can you bring peace to the land?

New Player Tips

If you take a hit, you lose a coin. Hold a few extra coins in your pouch just to be safe!
Build and upgrade your walls as soon as possible!
Try to recruit at least 1 peasant every day!
The forest is dangerous at night; watch out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2448680/The_Monarch/?snr=1_5_1100__1100&utm_source=steamwidget

The Monarch: First Light — game info

Platforms: Windows
Steam Deck: Playable
Player modes: Single-player
Controller: Partial controller support
PC Game Pass: Not included

The Monarch: First Light — questions & answers

Is The Monarch: First Light free?: Yes — The Monarch: First Light is free to play, so you can install and play it without buying anything.
Is The Monarch: First Light Steam Deck compatible?: Mostly. Valve rates The Monarch: First Light Playable on Steam Deck: it runs, but may need some manual tweaking — a community controller layout, or zooming in on small text.
Can I play The Monarch: First Light on Mac?: Not natively — Steam lists no macOS version of The Monarch: First Light. Mac players would need a cloud gaming service or a Windows compatibility layer.
Is The Monarch: First Light multiplayer?: No — Steam lists The Monarch: First Light as single-player only.
Is The Monarch: First Light on PC Game Pass?: No — The Monarch: First Light is not on PC Game Pass right now.

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Not recommended Oct 6, 2024

A kingdom ripoff, which would be ok if it was done well, but it’s not.

3 found this helpful

Not recommended Sep 23, 2025

garbage game cant even change the annoying control keybind

Not recommended Aug 20, 2025

"The Monarch: First Light" is is not a game. It's an advertisement for a product called "The Monarch". The Monarch is an unusual, but badly made ripoff of Kingdom/Kingdom: New Lands, with graphics that badly ape Minecraft (ugh), and gameplay elements stolen from Vampire Survivors. The game was an objective failure. But this isn't completely relevant because this is not The Monarch, it's just an advertisment for it, so it's not correct to try to review that completely distinct product. We must instead review this for what it is... an advertisement. If you enjoy advertisements, you can consume them for free on the web or on Youtube without needing to add them to your game library, download them, and then launch the advertising. It's impossible in a general sense to recommend people should do that over playing real, full games on Steam, and that applies here with "The Monarch: First Light" too. The purpose of this advertisement is to get you to shell out a whopping $5 USD on buying The Monarch, and I don't recommend you do that either. Now on to pricing and value for gamers. As an advertisement, this is only free in the same way that adverts on Youtube and banner ads in you…

Recommended May 30, 2025

I enjoyed the Monarch demo and put it in my wish list to buy later. It just goes to show that a game doesn't have to be complicated to be challenging and fun.

Not recommended May 15, 2025

This is just a demo, which is disappointing because the store page does not mention anything about this being a demo. I was getting pretty into it until after the 10th night the game just ended randomly because saying that it was only a prologue. I think the 3D kingdom is a good game idea, but the art style doesn't feel coherent which can be a bit jarring, and at even though 3D allows an extra dimension, there is still only 2 lanes. The 3D feels to be negatively affecting the game, because in this game it only adds more distance to travel just as slowly as in the 2D kingdom game, without adding much to the gameplay.

Recommended Nov 30, 2024

It was really fun and it is only a demo witch is surprising and I cant wait for the actually game to come out

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